of arguing of the Manicheans folly insaniam dementiam who not being able to accommodate the Writings of the Apostles to the Idea that they had formed to themselves of the Christian Religion or under colour of certain contradictions in the Scriptures which they could not resolve (ſ) Non à Christi Apostolis sed longo pòst tempore à quibusdam incerti nominis viris qui ne sibi non haboretur fides scribentibus quae nescirent partim Apostolorum nomina partim eorum qui Apostolos secuti viderentur scriptorum suorum frontibus indiderunt asseverantes secundùm eos se scripsisse quae scripserint Apud Aug. lib. 32. cont Faust c. 2. would needs have it believed that these Books were composed after the Apostles themselves by uncertain Authors who had made bold to borrow the Names of these Apostles to gain Credit and Authority to their Works To convince them the more easily of their folly he sets before their eyes the Books (t) Platonis Aristotelis Ciceronis Varronis aliorumque ejusmodi autorum libros unde noverunt homines quôd ipsorum sint nisi temporum fibimet succedentium contestatione continuâ August cont Faust lib. 33. c. 6. of Hippocrates Plato Aristotle Varto and Cicero and of several other Writers that are believed to be the Authors of those Works that we have under their Names because they have been attributed to them in the time wherein they lived and they have been always so attributed successively from Age to Age. Now there is nothing more contrary to reason than not to grant the same privilege to the Church and not to acknowledge that she hath faithfully kept the Writings of the Apostles whose Doctrine she hath always preserved by the means of the Succession of Bishops We have enlarged a little on these Reflections of S. Augustin and of the other Fathers that preceded him because they have mightily evinced the Truth of the Books of the New Testament without having recourse to I know not what particular Spirit which is an invention of these later times We cannot imagine any thing more opposite to good reason than these Words of the Confession of Faith of those that formerly took the Name of the Reformed of the Churches of France Confess Art. 4. We acknowledge these Books in speaking of the whole Scriptures to be Canonical not so much by the common agreement and consent of the Church as by the testimony and inward persuasion of the Holy Ghost The Fathers nevertheless have always confuted the ancient Hereticks who refused to acknowledge these Books as Canonical by the common agreement and consent of the Church It would have been a pleasant way of reasoning if every one in these primitive times of Christianity would not have acknowledged for divine Books only those that his private Spirit should dictate to him to be such This hath appeared to be so great an extravagance to those of that Persuasion who in the Low Countries are called Remonstrants that they look upon the Calvinists that follow this Principle as People that have renounced common sense Simon Episcopius who hath been one of the Champions of this Party after having handled this question with a great deal of subtilty concludes that it is a very ill sort of argumentation to admit besides the testimony of the Church another inward testimony of the Holy Ghost to know whether certain Books have a divine Authority stampt upon them Hinc patet saith this Protestant ineptos esse eos qui vel praeter vel citra testimonium Ecclesiae requiri aiunt internum Spiritus Sancti testimonium ad hoc ut libros hos divinos esse authoritatem divinam habere intelligamus Remonst Confess c. 1. de scrip n. 8. It is sufficient according to the Remonstrants that we have there upon the testimony of (v) Ecclesia primitiva quae temporibus Apostolorum fuit certissimè resciscere potuit indubiè etiam rescivit libros istos ab Apostolis scriptos esse vel saltem approbatos nobisque istius rei scientiam quasi per manus tradidit ac veluti depositum quoddam reliquit Remonst Confess cap. 1. de Script n. 8. the primitive Church that certainly knew that these Books were written by the Apostles or approved by them and that this testimony is come down to us by a constant Tradition This Spirit that is diffused through the whole Church ought without doubt to be preferred to a private Spirit that can only serve to make a division therein Grot. Animad in Anim. Riv. This is what Grotius hath judiciously observed Spiritus ille privatus saith this Critick Spiritus Ecclesiae divisor It would be to no purpose for the Calvinists to object to the Remonstrants that their Opinion is taken out of the Writings of Socinus because an evident truth ought not to be rejected under pretence that it may be found in the Books of Socinus This Heretick hath proved in his Treatise Of the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and in another Work intituled Sacred Lectures the Truth of the Sacred Books and principally of those of the New Testament by the very same reasons and after the same manner that S. Irenaeus Tertullian and S. Augustin have done Socin lib. de Auctor Script sac (x) Legantur ea quae hac de re Eusebius scribit pluribus in locis Historiae Ecclesiasticae invenietur usque ad illius Eusebit aetatem hoc est per 250. circiter annorum perpetuum spatium postquam scripta illa conscripta atque edita fuerunt nunquam fuisse in Ecclesia qui dubitaret quin quatuor quae habemus Evangelia liber Actorum Apostolorum Epistolae omnes quae Pauli Apostoli esse dicuntur praeter eam quae ad Hebraeos est scripta prior Apostoli Petri prima Joannis Apostoli haec inquam omnia ab iis scripta fuissent quibus attribuuntur Socin lib. de Auctor Script Sac. Let them read saith Socinus that which Eusebius hath written on this matter in his Ecclesiastical History and they will find therein a perpetual consent of all the Churches of the World since these Books were written to the time of this Author He insists very much in these two Treatises on the Testimonies of the ancient Fathers Will any one say for this that this is a Socinian Method because Socinus hath made use of it after the most Learned Ecclesiastical Writers Would to God that this Enemy of the Traditions of the Catholick Church had always followed this Principle he would not have introduced so many Innovations into Religion Neither can he avoid an Objection that may be made even by those of his own Party that according to his Principles he ought necessarily to acknowledge a Tradition after the same manner as it is maintained in the Church of Rome We cannot might they say to him receive the Gospel of S. Matthew and reject that which hath been published under the Name
Conference with them and that they had all agreed on a certain and sure Rule of Faith they separated to go every one to his respective station to promulge the Gospel of Jesus Christ S. Augustin relies on the same Principle in disproving a false Epistle that the Manicheans had published under the Name of Jesus Christ Is there any one so foolish saith this Learned Father as to believe that the Epistle that Manichee attributes to Jesus Christ is true and that the Gospel of S. Matthew which hath been always preserved in the Church doth not belong to this Apostle He demands whether they could with any color of Reason believe an obscure Man who appeared not in the World till more than two hundred years after Jesus Christ (z) Cùm ipse Apostolus Paulus post ascensionem Domini de coelo vocatus si non inveniret in carne Apostolos quibus communicando cum quibus conferendo Evangelium ejusdem esse societatis appareret Ecclesia illi omninò non crederet Aug. lib. 28. cont Manich. c. 4. since the Church would not have given credit to S. Paul himself who was called to the Apostleship immediately after the Ascension of our Saviour if he had not conferred with the Apostles touching the Doctrine that he preached It is a Maxim generally received among all the ancient Ecclesiastical Writers that Jesus Christ alone is the Author of the Christian Religion and that his Apostles who have been the Witnesses of his Actions and Words have only related to us those things that they had seen or learned from their Master When it was objected to the primitive Fathers that the Gospels of S. Mark and S. Luke as also the Epistles of S. Paul ought not to be received as Canonical because the Authors of these Writings were not Apostles but only Apostolical Men. They have answered that these Apostolical Persons have written nothing but what they had received from their Masters They have concluded from thence that the same authority ought to be given to their Writings as if the Apostles themselves had been the Authors of them Therefore when Tertullian speaks of S. Luke and S. Mark who according to his Opinion were only Apostolical he adds at the same time that these Apostolical Men were not (a) Si Apostolicos non tamen solos sed cum Apostolis post Apostolos quoniam praedicatio discipulorum suspecta fieri posset de gloriae studio si non adsistat illi auctoritas magistrorum imò Christi qui magistros Apostolos fecit Tertull. lib. 4. adv Marc. c. 2. alone having written jointly with the Apostles and after them and that therefore their Doctrine could not be suspected since it hath been authorised by their Masters and even by Jesus Christ who had constituted these Masters We may apply unto S. Paul that which Tertullian saith here of S. Mark and S. Luke And this may serve to resolve all the Objections of the ancient Hereticks who refused to allow his Writings because they denied that he was truly an Apostle I have already given an account of the Manicheans who acknowledged nothing of S. Paul but what was agreeable to the Idea that they had formed of the Christian Religion These Sectaries argued against common Sense For in as much as they were not able to reconcile two Passages of this Apostle they thought it sufficient to conclude from thence that one of the two must of necessity be corrupted since it was not possible said they that he should contradict in one place what he had affirmed in another When it was demanded of Faustus whether he received the Apostle Apostolum accipis He answered that he did And when it was proved to him by the Writings of S. Paul that he ought to believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God derived his Original from David according to the flesh he then replyed (b) Non equidem crediderim Apostolum Dei contraria sibi scribere potuisse modò hanc modò illam de Domino nostro habuisse sententiam Apud Aug. lib. 11. cont Faust c. 1. that it is not credible that the Apostle of God should have written things that are contrary and overthrow one another he maintained that the Epistles of S. Paul had been interpolated as well as the Gospels and to make his Subtilty more apparent in inventing new Answers he adds that this Apostle might be reconciled with himself in saying that he had two Conceptions thereupon and that that which was objected was his old Opinion which he had abandoned after he had been better instructed But let us leave these Hereticks who had no certain Principles and were therefore obliged sometimes to have recourse to their Paraclet which was their great Engine We see almost the same thing at present in some illuminated and enthusiastick Persons who for want of good reasons are forced to fly to I know not what private Spirit that discovers to them the most hidden Mysteries of the Christian Religion I would entreat these People to reflect a little on the Conduct of the ancient Ecclesiastical Writers in their Disputes against the Hereticks and on their manner of arguing they will find therein neither Paraclet nor private Spirit but solid Arguments that are very far from the Fanaticism which is predominant in our Age. Lastly to return to S. Paul the vanity of these ancient Hereticks was so great that S. Irenaeus was compelled to confute some Sectaries (c) Eos autem qui dicunt solum Paulum veritatem cognovisse cui per revelationem manifestum est mysterium ipse Paulus convincat eos dicens unum ipsum Deum operatum Petro in Apostolatu circumcisionis sibi in Gentes Iren. adv Haer. lib. 3. c. 13. who affirmed that this Apostle only was endued with the knowledge of the Truth and that he alone had the Revelation of the Mysteries of the Gospel but this Father convinceth them by the very Words of S. Paul who hath born witness to the Apostleship of S. Peter CHAP. XVI Of the Epistle to the Hebrews in particular Whether it be St. Paul's and Canonical What Antiquity hath believed thereupon as well in the Eastern as in the Western Countries The Opinions of these later Ages concerning this Epistle SInce I have no other design in this Work than to treat of the Text of the New Testament and to establish as much as is possible the Writings of the Apostles I shall not insist in particular on the Subject of every Epistle of S. Paul this is a task that belongs rather to a Commentator of the Scriptures than to a Critical History of the Text for this reason I come immediately to the Epistle to the Hebrews that seems to have been disputed in Antiquity principally in the Western Churches some of which have refused to read it in their publick Assemblies there are also at this day some learned Criticks that doubt whether S. Paul be the Author thereof though they acknowledge it
Canonical Epistles from which he proves that the Passage was extant in the ancient Greek Copies out of which that Father compiled his ancient Latin Edition Erasmus in his answer to Stunica does vindicate himself well enough by the authority of those Greek Copies he had yet he was wrought upon by some other consideration contrary to the Authority of all his Manuscripts to insert the Passage of S. John in a new Edition of his New Testament He declares that what obliged him to make that Change was his seeing a Greek Copy in England which he believed was more perfect than any Latin Edition I shall afterwards shew that he is mistaken in believing that the Greeks reformed their Copies of the New Testament to a degree of perfection above those of the Latins after their Reunion with the Roman Church If that were so as that judicious Person does suppose with what warrant and freedom could he correct his Greek Edition by one single Copy which as he himself believed had suffered some alteration He does disparage his own judgment by inveighing against S. Jerome as if that Father had been the Author of the Addition that is found in the Latin Copies in which there are these words Quoniam tres sunt qui testimonium dant in coelo Pater Verbum Spiritus Sanctus hi tres unum sunt i. e. Because there are three who bear witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one (c) Ille saepenumerò violentus est parumque sibi pudens saepè varius parumque sibi constans Erasm Apol. adv Stun He on this occasion brings a heavy Charge against him as being more forward than wise that is to say if the matter be referred to Erasmus's judgment S. Jerome must stand chargeable with Forgery a bold and presumptuous undertaking to correct the ancient Latin Edition according to his own fancy without the Authority of good Copies Faustus Socinus knew very well what advantage to make of this Answer of Erasmus but withal adds that (d) Hieronymus ut is qui ut rectè de eo Erasmus alicubi scribit non satis prudenter saepe ad victoriam ad causae suae defensionem favorem multa trahebat nactus fortè exemplar aliquod aut etiam plura exemplaria in quibus particula ista adjecta fuerat ut fraus animadverti non posset adversus fidem aliorum omnium exemplarium tam Latinorum quà m Graecorum lectionem particulae istius tanquam germanam defendere promovere coepit conquerens publicè eam culpâ fraude hereticorum abrasam à vulgatis codicibus fuisse Soc. Comm. in 1 Joann c. 5. v. 7. S. Jerome might have had one or more Copies in which this Addition might be so managed as to make it a hard matter to discover the Fraud and that this is the reason obliged him to maintain that additional Passage against the Authority of so many Copies In this manner that Unitary argues according to his custom with more subtilty than solidity But Reason alone is not sufficient to judg of such maters for besides that 't is necessary to be well acquainted with and to examin strictly such Writings as are on publick record and may give light in this affair If Erasmus who had read many Greek and Latin Copies of the New Testament and frequently consulted S. Jerome's Manuscripts had applyed himself to a strict examination of the Preface to the Canonical Epistles which he thinks was written by that Father he would rather have been inclined to reject that Preface as supposititious than to charge S. Jerome with Forgery 'T is not amiss to set down in this place some part of the Preface to the Canonical Epistles Hieron Prolog in VII E. pist Can. ex edit Paris ann 1523. that is thought to be S. Jerome's which is only found in the first Latin Editions of the Bible with this Title Incipit prologus beati Hieronymi presbyteri in septem Epistolas Canonicas i. e. The beginning of the Preface of S. Jerome the Presbyter to the seven Canonical Epistles The Author complains that Interpreters have not faithfully translated those Epistles (e) Illo praecipuè loco ubi de unitate Trinitatis in primâ Joannis Epistolâ positum legimus In quâ etiam ab infidelibus translatoribus multum erratum esse à fidei veritate comperimus trium tantummodò vocabula hoc est aquae sanguinis spiritûs in ipsâ suâ editione ponentibus Patris ubique ac Spiritûs testimonium omittentibus in quo maximè fides Catholica roboratur Patris Filii Spiritûs Sancti una Divinitatis substantia comprobatur Hieron Prol. in VII Epist Can. especially that place of S. John's First Epistle Chap. v. vers 7. where there is mention made of the Unity of Persons in the Blessed Trinity He accuses those unfaithful Translators of falling into great Errors whilst they retained in their Version these words only The Water the Blood and the Spirit and left out the words The Father and the Spirit which are an authentick Testimony of the Catholick Faith about the Mystery of the Trinity The Bishop of Oxford who has lately published a new Edition of S. Cyprian's Works with Observations makes mention of a great number of Latin Bibles where S. Jerome's supposed Preface is found In the mean time he complains that it is left out of the Latin Bibles that are printed in our Age. (f) Vtrum hoc ex casit an maleficio contigerit dispiciant eruditi Joann Oxon. Episc Not. in Cypr. de unit Eccl. Let those says that learned Bishop who are men of Judgment determin if that omission happened by chance or was the effect of some bad Design He could not imagin for what reasons it was taken from the last Editions of the Latin Bible since he found it in the Manuscript Copies and almost in all the ancient Impressions Libris manuscriptis passim fere omnibus codicibus impressis antiquioribus But 't is not just to accuse upon this account those who were concerned in the Translation of the Latin Bibles without that Preface This is true that it is found with other Prefaces of S. Jerome to the Bible in such Latin Copies as have been made not above six Hundred Years ago and in all probability the first Latin Bibles were printed according to such Manuscripts But 't is not altogether so in those that were written about seven or eight Hundred Years ago but in some few only of such Copies And 't is very likely that as to the rest there was a Regulation made according to the later Manuscripts in such Editions of the Bible as have not that Preface 'T is further observable that neither the Name of S. Jerome nor of any other Writer is prefixt to the Preface in some of the ancient Copies where it is found which sufficiently shews that we may on good grounds question S. Jerome's
Greek Version which was publickly received it being indifferent to them to quote the Hebrew or the Greek in those Passages Although the Apostles did prefer the Greek of the Septuagint to the Hebrew Text it cannot be inferred from thence that the Greek Version is better than the Hebrew of the Jews as some Authors especially amongst the Catholicks have too easily believed We ought to consider by what motives the Apostles were led to give this preference to the Greek Seeing they did it for no other end but to accommodate themselves to the capacity of the People whom they instructed and who read the Bible in Greek there can be no consequence drawn from thence to give more Authority to the Version of the Septuagint than to the Hebrew Text which they did not meddle with In the Hebrew or Chaldaick Gospel of St. Matthew the Passages of the Old Testament were quoted according to the Hebrew Text because the Jews of Palestine for whose sake it was written read the Bible in that Language The People who at that time understood not the Hebrew Language had Glosses on the Hebrew Text written in the Chaldee so that if that Evangelist had quoted the Bible in the vulgar Language he had quoted the same according to the Chaldaick Glosses and not according to the Greek of the Septuagint which was not in use amongst the Jews of Palestine It will further appear that the Evangelists and the Apostles did not confine themselves in their quotations to the rigor of the Letter because that was in no wise needful for carrying on their Work. They did content themselves sometimes with delivering the sense of the Words which they adapted to their Discourse A thing commonly practised and they cannot be branded with Falshood or Imposture who set down after this manner such Records in their Works as serve for proofs A Copy of Record cannot be alledged to be false unless the sense be changed But this can never be found in the quotations of the Apostles who followed a received custom and which could be blamed by none The same thing happened to most of the Fathers when they quoted in the Works the Passages of Scripture for they made no scruple to change the Words so long as that change was of no importance to the Sense Which ought to be the Standard of our Judgment about the Passages of the Old Testament which are quoted in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles for though they were taken from the Greek Version they do not always express the very Words I know it may be objected that this Version has very much degenerated from its ancient purity and that therefore it can no more serve as a Rule by which we may judge of the Truth of the Apostolical quotations But what ever change has happened to this Translation it is sufficient as it remains to decide the matter of Fact we are now about It is agreed by all the ancient Ecclesiastical Authors that the Evangelists and Apostles in the Passages they quote out of the Old Testament were more ready to express the Sense than the Words which is the meaning of these Words of St. Jerom Hieron Comm. in Is l. 3. c. 7. In multis testimoniis saith he quae Evangelistae vel Apostoli de libris veteribus assumpserunt curiosius attendendum est non eos verborum ordinem secutos esse sed sensum Which he often repeats in his works (e) Notare debemus illud quod plerumque admonuimus Evangelistas Apostolos non verbum interpretatos esse de verbo nec Septuaginta Interpretum auctoritatem secutos quorum editio illo jam tempore legebatur sed quasi Hebraeos instructos in Lege absque damno sensuum suis usos esse sermonibus Hieron Comm. in Isai lib. 9. cap. 29. We ought to observe well saith he in another place what I have often said before viz. That the Evangelists and Apostles did not make a Translation word for word and that they followed not the Version of the Septuagint that was read in their days but being Hebrews and skilful in the Law they made use of their Terms That Learned Man does agree with the other Fathers in assuring us that the Apostles did not in their Writings report the passages of the Old Testament word for word But since he was prepossessed with an opinion in favour of the Hebrew Text when he composed his Commentaries on the most part of the Prophets he affirms that the same Apostles made use of their own Expressions and not those of the Septuagint Yet 't is easie to prove the contrary and in this the most part of the Protestants are very much to be blamed for neglecting this Ancient Greek Version For it is impossible for him to understand the Books of the New Testament well who is not first much employed in the reading of the Septuagint It was upon those Seventy Ancient Interpreters that the Apostles formed their Stile and not upon the Hebrew Text of the Jews I do not in the least comprehend upon what ground St. Jerome could alledge that (f) Paraphr asim hujus testimonii quasi Hebraeus ex Hebraeis assumit Apostolus Paulus de authenticis libris in Epistolâ quam scribit ad Corinthios non verbum ex verbo reddens quod facere ommnò contemnit sed sensuum exprimens veritatem quibus utitur ad id quod voluerit roborandum Hieron Comm. in Is lib. 17. cap. 64. St. Paul being an Hebrew born did in his first Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. 2. give a paraphrase on the words of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 64. v. 4. as they are in the Hebrew and had regard to nothing but the sense according to his Custom Yet there is nothing in that place that can oblige us to have recourse to the Hebrew rather than the Greek for understanding the Apostles meaning St. Jerome dream'd then of nothing else but settling his New Translation of the Scriptures upon the Hebrew thereby to give satisfaction to a great number of People who spake evil of him upon that occasion This Spirit reigns in his Commentaries on the Old Testament in those chiefly which are on the great Prophets He endeavours to prevent with an assiduous Persecution that which might be objected against from all sides that the Church ought not to receive any other Scripture of the Old Testament than that which was Authorised by the Apostles Indeed this Objection which was a terrible one must needs have made a great impression on his Spirit and if he dare not say that the Apostles always follow'd the Hebrew Text he endeavours at least to shelter himself by assuring us that sometimes they did not adhere either to the one or the other because ordinarily that which was considered by them was the sense and not the Words And this he does affirm of the words of the Prophet Jeremy Jerem. cap. 31. v. 15. a Voice was heard in Rama c.
that (k) Si non est necessarium ut singulae veritates sententiae quae sunt in Sacris Literis immediatè sint à Spiritu Sancto ipsi scriptori inspiratae non modò sequetur indeterminabilis altercatio super sententiis immediatè vel non immediatè inspiratis verùm etiam de integris Evangeliis quorum historia potuit humanitùs esse nota imò de omnibus Scripturis non Propheticis dubitabitur an immediate Spiritus Sanctus eas scriptoribus inspiraverit Theol. Duac ibid. if it be once granted that it is not necessary that every Truth and Sentence should be immediatly indited by the Spirit of God there will be endless disputes not only about that which is particularly delivered in Scripture by immediate Inspiration but also about entire Gospels the History of which may be known in a humane manner It will be also question'd in general if all the Books of the Scripture that are not Prophetical have been immediatly suggested by the Holy Ghost to those who were the Writers thereof The third Proposition appeared to those Divines to be the most dangerous of all and opposite to the words of St. Paul who does assure us that all the Scripture is given by the Inspiration of God and a Divine Doctrin which was indited by the Holy Spirit It is for this Reason say they that the Decrees of Popes and of Councils were never reckoned in the number of Divine Writings although the Holy Ghost does testifie by the Church that there is nothing that is false in those Decrees And finally they add that that third Proposition of the Jesuits of Louvain could not be maintained without acknowledging that the Histories of Thucydides and of Livie might for the same reason be reckoned amongst the Books of the Scripture if the Holy Ghost should testifie to us that there is nothing of falshood in those Histories They conclude their Censure with this Maxim (l) Non enim ideò inspiratum aliquid divinitùs est quòd posteà sit approbatum sed ideò est approbatum quia fuerat divinitùs inspiratum ibid. That a thing is not therefore given by Divine Inspiration because it so falls out that it is approved of afterwards but that on the contrary it is approved because it was Inspired Let us now see if the Doctors of the two Faculties of Theology had reason to condemn those three Propositions in terms that are injurious to the Society of the Jesuits 'T is observable that before all these things the Jesuits who published at Rome an 1586. a Directory for the Studies of their Society Entitled Ratio Studiorum have placed this Proposition concerning the Inspiration of the Sacred Writings amongst those which their Divines ought to prefer to others (m) Probabilius est verba primorum exemplarium ac fontium incorruptorum fuisse omnia singula à Spiritu Sancto dictata secundùm substantiam multiformiter tamen pro variâ instrumentorum conditione Rat. stud edit Rom. tit de reliq opin del in Theol. fac It is more probable say they that the first and Original Copies which were not corrupted were all particularly indited by the Holy Ghost as to what concerns the substance but in a different manner according to the different condition of the Instruments By that we see that the Jesuits of Rome did not believe at that time that the same Inspiration is to be acknowledged in all the Books of the Scripture and when they say that every word was Inspired they add withal as to what concerns the Substance Besides they do not maintain this Inspiration of words as to what belongs to the substance but as a probable Opinion so that they believe that that may be also denied with probability It is true that the Opinion of those two Faculties of Theology belonging to Louvain and Douay was then most received in the Schools But the Jesuits who from that time have had Learned Men in their Society saw very well that it was contradictory to good sense and likewise opposite to the most Ancient Doctors of the Church Those of their College of Louvain did nothing that was contrary to the Rule or Constitution of their Foundation which (n) Fundator constitutionum 3. part c. 10. disertis verbis cavet ne novae opiniones admittantur Quod tamen ut suavius fieret additum est hâc formulâ nisi ex consensu praepositorum Rat. stud tit de del opin does expresly forbid the introducing of new Opinions for the same rule does proceed unless it be done with the consent of the Superiors There is nothing more judicious than the Liberty of Opinion which is granted by the Constitutions of that Society to its Professors in the manner as it is limited (o) Sequantur ait Ignatius in quavis facultate securiorem magis approbatam doctrinam eos auctores qui eam docent Et ne singulis liberum esset judicium de magis approbatâ securiore doctrinâ deligendâ statim subdit Cujus rei penès Rectorem qui quod statuetur in universâ Societate ad majorem Dei gloriam secuturus est cura sit ibid. Father Ignatius did ordain that in every Science whatsoever they should follow the most certain and the most received Doctrine But seeing it is not easie to distinguish what are the most certain and the most received Opinions he decreed that the choice should depend on the Rector who ought to embrace for the greater Glory of God that which was maintained in the whole Society And the truth is the Jesuits did no sooner appear in the World but there was a birth given to much more considerable assistances for the study of Theology than had ever been before that time And therefore they did wisely that they were not altogether devoted to the Opinions of St. Thomas and St. Augustin though they were zealously embraced in the most part of the Universities at that time They had reason in that case not to follow blindly the Opinions that were most received in the Schools in their time concerning the Inspiration of the Sacred Writings This liberty of Prophesie which had been agreed upon in behalf of their Professors of Theology did afford them an occasion of making new discoveries in this Science and to this I impute the rigor with which the Jesuits of Louvain maintain their Opinions about Inspiration without troubling themselves about the Belief of the two Faculties of Theology of Louvain and Douay who had not carefully enough examined that matter Notwithstanding the Censures of those two Faculties they continued to teach in their College of Louvain the same Opinions concerning the Inspiration of the Sacred Writings Father Cornelius à Lapide a few years after that time kept up in the same place publick Lectures on the Holy Scriptures which he continued for the space of sixteen years He likewise published those Lectures by the Order of the Archbishop of Malines and of his